Concert offers musical variety

Thursday, October 18, 2007

Northwestern’s Women’s Choir will perform as part of the Fall Family Weekend Concert on Nov. 3 in Christ Chapel.

On Saturday, Nov. 3, during NorthwesternCollege’s Fall Family Weekend, approximately 170 music students will join in various choirs and ensembles to present a concert. The concert will begin at 5 p.m. in Christ Chapel; the public is invited to attend.

The Women’s Choir, under the direction of Dr. Linell Moss, will open the evening with a Medieval canon, Shalom aleichem. The Hebrew text, arranged by Stephen Richards, means “Peace be with you.”

Next the Symphonette, under the direction of Jungho Kim, will perform Edward Elgar’s Serenade for Strings, op. 20. This three-movement work is a classic in the repertoire for string orchestra.

Directed by Dr. Thomas Holm, the A cappella Choir will perform three pieces. The group will begin with Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina’s Sicut Cervus. Johann Sebastian Bach’s Singet dem Herr ein neues Lied follows, featuring Kayla Driesen on keyboard, Laura Starr and LauraBeth Vander Ploeg on oboe, Karen Leonard on the English horn, Heather Ness on bassoon, Samuel Lim and Mary Holm on violin, and Jon Scheffert on the double bass. The choir will close its selections with Give Me Jesus, arranged by L.L. Fleming.

Under the direction of Dr. Juyeon Kang, a piano ensemble featuring Driesen, Kathleen Kropp and Sarah Shively, will play Valse by Sergei Rachmaninoff.

The Women’s Choir will take the stage for one more piece, Psalm 100, composed by René Clausen. The piece will feature accompaniment by Kropp on the flute, Starr on the oboe, Ness on the bassoon, Scheffert on the string bass, percussionists Titus Landegent and Julia Glendenning and pianist Kristen Moss.

After the Women’s Choir piece, music professors Dr. Juyeon Kang and Dr. Luke Dahn will perform Battle Hymn of the Republic, arranged by David Clydesdale, as a piano duet.

Under the direction of Dr. Thomas Holm, the Heritage Singers will perform three pieces, beginning with Ward Swingle’s Flight of the Bumble Bee. Heidi Ackerman choreographed the movements for the choir’s performance of Jacques Offenbach’s Neighbors’ Chorus. Ackerman is also the featured alto soloist in the choir’s final selection, Wanting Memories, by Ysaye Barnwell.

Dr. Timothy McGarvey’s Symphonic Band will close the concert with two pieces. The first is the end title from the 1985 film Silverado. The piece was composed by Bruce Broughton and arranged by Randol Bass. The finale of the evening is Donald Grantham’s Baron Cimetiére’s Mambo, a highly energetic piece based on Caribbean lore in the rhythms and excitement of the mambo dance.